Door operating mechanism



H. A. MINER Oct. 27, 1931.

DOOR OPERATING MECHANISM Filed Nov.

Hen ryfl Miner Faterateel Get. 27, 1931 STATES PATENT easi HENRY A. MINER, OF EVANSTON, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO W. E. MINER, INQ, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF DELAWARE DOOR OPERATING MECHANISM Application filed November 17, 1930. Serial No. 496,157.

This invention relates to improvements in operation than during the closing operation door operating mechanisms. thereof, to assure complete freeing of the One object of the invention is to provide door so that the same may be easily manipua simple and eflicient operating mechanism lated by the operator to complete the openfor refrigerator car doors, which is accom ing thereof. modated well within the clearance limits im- Other objects of the invention will more posed and whereby forcible opening moveclearly appear from the description and ment of the doors is assured to an extent to claims hereinafter following. entirely free the doors from sticking and thus In the drawings, forming a part of this 10 permit the operator to easily swing the same specification, Figure 1 is a front, elevational completely open. view of a pair of vertically disposed hinge Another object of the invention is to prodoors of a refrigerator car, illustrating my vide a door operating mechanism for forcing improvements in connection therewith. F igrefrigerator car doors tightly closed and also ure 2 is a horizontal sectional View, on an 15 forcing the same partly open, including keepenlarged scale, corresponding substantially 5 ers mounted on the door frame and cooperat- 0 the line 22 of Figure 1, said view also ing keeper-engaging means operated by a roshowing the keeper engaging means of my ta h ft t d o n f th d00 memimproved construction in a difierent position hers, actuated by a lever, wherein the keeperin dotted lines. Figure 3 is a partly diagram- :15?) engaging means has camming action with the matic view, similar to Figure 2, illustrating keeper-to impart an amount of movement to in dotted lines two different positions of the the doors in opening the same which is in keeper-engaging means and the actuating excess of the movement imparted thereto in shaft. the closing operation, thereby assuring com- In said drawings, 10 designates the side .27; plete freeing of the doors so that there will Wall of a refrigerator car having a door open- 7. be no resistance due to sticking of the same ing 11 therein, with which two hinge doors in the final manual operation of directly 12 and 13 cooperate. As clearly shown in winoing thg same (39 fully pened Condition Figure 1, the ClOOl'S 12 and 13 are mounted to A more specific object of th invention i swing about vertical axes and are supported to provide a door operating mechanism for y hinge members 14-14 fixed to the 10 forcing the doors of a refrigerator car partly ame. As shown, preferably two such hinge open and also operative to forcibly close the m mbers are employed in connection with same, including a vertically disposed, rotary each door. As will be understood, the meetlever operated shaft mounted on one of the ing edges of the doors and the door frame,

5 doors and having keeper-engaging means at as well as the inner meeting edges of the two opposite ends thereof, and cooperating keepdoors, are beveled and provided with suitable ers mounted on the door frame wherein ach packing material, as is usual, to provide for keeper engaging means is of fork shape and a tight joint when the doors are fully closed. one of the branches of the forked keeper-en- My improved door operating mechanism 3 gaging means co-acts with a projecting lugcomprises broadly a rotary operating shaft like member of the cooperating keeper when A; a pair of keepers BB; a pair of forkthe shaft is rotated in one directionto force shaped keeper-engaging members C-C the doors closed, and wherein when the shaft fixed to the operating shaft; an operating is rotated in a reverse direction the two lever D; and a pair of s ppo ting bracket 43 brancheS of the forked keeper-engaging F- means have engagement successively, respech DB Q, Shaft A 18 H the m f a tiv'ely, with an abutment'face of the coopersubstantially fiat bar arranged Vertically of ating keeper and the lug thereof to forc the door 12, ad acent the inner edge thereof. the doors open, thereby obtaining greater if OPPOSIJBB ends of the bill p g gmovement f th d d i g thgopgnipg ing members (3-0 are fixed. Each keeperengaging member C Ffixed to the door 12. Outwardlybeyond the bracket F, the keeper-engagingmemberG is provided with a keeper-engaging means proper in the form of a crescent-shaped, horizO y tallydisposed web member 17, having a vertically disposed therefrom, As clearly'shown in Figures 2 and 3, the flange 18 is of uniform cross sectlon throughout and is in the form of a fork element. other words, the flange 18 is of arcuate' form or crescent-shape. 7

The operating shaft A has a lever D pivoted thereto by means of'a pin 19, thelever D being swingable from the horizontal position shown in Figure 1. to a pendant position.

7 As shown, the lever D is provided with a .lated to rotate lexcept ashere the keepers B I adjacent the upper edge of the door 12, and

which the same may be osciltheshaft A in reverse direc tions. A sealing and latching means 20 of well known form cooperates with the lever D, by means of which the lever may be locked in the position shown in Figure 1, and the usual car seal applied thereto. -The member 20 is vpreferably mounted on the door 13. I

' The keepers BB are of similar design, i laf-ter vpoin d ut- 1 On v o is secured tothe door "frame hand grip by the other 'keeper is secured to the frame adjacent the lower edge of said door. Each keeper B is in the form of a casting and has an inclined inner abutment face 21, which co actswith the corresponding keeperengaging member during the initial portion of the door opening operation. Spaced outwardly from the face 21, the keeper has a laterally extending lug 22, which has an inclined inner abutment face 23 and an outer abutment face 24L substantially parallel to the plane of the car wall. The keeper Bat the bottom edge ',of the door opening is provided with an eX- tension 25 having a pivoted latch member 26 "at the outer end thereof which cooperates withfthe lower edge of the door 13-to latch thesame in closed position, As shown, the lower endvcornerof'the door 13 is provided with a wear plate 27 with which the latch 26 =cooperates v .The operation of my improved-mechanism is as follows: Assuming that the doors 12 and 13 are closed, and the door operating mechanism is in the full line position shown in Figures land 2, the latch-26 is first disengaged from the door 13' and the opening operation is effected by rotating the operating shaft A'by-means of the lever D, the latter being swung from the position shown in Figarcuate flange 18, projecting 3 urel outwardly and toward the door 12, thus rotating the operating shaft in a contraclockwise direction, as viewed in Figure 2. As the shaft A is thus rotated, the outer surface of the cresent-shaped flange 18 will be' members will assume the position indicated by 29 in Figure 3, wherein the outer face of the inner branch of the crescent-shaped or forked member is'still engaged with the cam face 21of the keeper and the extremity of the other branch is contacting with the outer face 21 of thelug 22; During this action, the door 13 will be pulledoutwardly also, due to the frictional contact with the door 12. As will be clear, when the operating parts have reached the dotted line position last referred to in connection with Figure 3, the door 12 willlhave been forced partly open. During the further rotation of the shaft A,-the outer arm ofthe crescent-shapedkeeper-engaging 'flange will cam on theface'24 of the lug 22 When the parts have reachedjthis position,

ltheodoor 12 will be entirely free from the door 13 and the door frame, thus permitting V the operator to swingthe same to fully open condition without interference. When the door 12 has been opened, the door 13 is swung open'in the usualmanner. In closing the doors, the door 13 is, first swung shut and latched'by the member 26.. Thecdoor12 is :then moved to partly closed position so that vthe crescent-shaped keeper engaging flanges .of the operating means will cooperate with the projecting lugs 2222 of the keepers As Will be evident, when the shaft A ,iszrotated in a clock-wise direction by means of the lever D, as viewed in Figure 2, the crescent or forked-shaped keeper-engaging members will engage 1 over the projecting lugs 2 222 of the keepers BB. the branch at the lefthand side of the keeper, as shown in dotted lines in Figure 2, engaging the inner inclined face 23iof the corresponding lug, thereby ,camming the door inwardly. When the door has been fullyclosed, the parts vassume the full line position shown in Figure 2. i

As will be evident, my improved door operating mechanism provides for a greater --movement of the door 12 in opening than in closing of the same This additional movement is effected through the fork shaped 'members' cooperating with the spaced abutment faces of the keepers successively,thereby assuring freeing ofthe door 12 and preventing all sticking due to accumulation of frost on the engaging edges of the doors and the door frame.

I have herein shown and described what I now consider the preferred manner of carr ing out my invention, but the same is merely illustrative and I contemplate all changes and modifications that come within the scope of the claims appended hereto.

I claim:

1. In a door operating mechanism, the combination with a member having a door opening and a swinging door; of a pair of keepers fixed to said door member adjacent the edges of the door, each of said keepers having spaced inner and outer abutment faces; an operating shaft rotatably supported on the door; means for rotating said shaft; keeper-engaging means fixed to opposite ends of said shaft, said keeper-engaging means being of fork shape, the arms of said fork members successively engaging respectively said abutment faces of the keepers to force lhe door open when said shaft is rotated in one direction.

2. In a door operating mechanism, the combination with a member having a door opening and a swinging door for closing said opening; of a keeper fixed to the door member adjacent one edge of the door, said keeper having an abutment face and a lug spaced outwardly from said face; a rotary operating shaft on said door; means for rotating said shaft in reverse directions; a fork shaped keeper-engaged member fixed to one end of said shaft'and rotatable therewith, said fork member engaging with said lug of the keeper when the shaft is rotated in one direction to force the door closed, and the arms of said fork shaped member successively engaging said abutment face and ing of the keeper respectively when said shaft is rotated in a reverse direction to force the door open.

3. In a door operating mechanism, the combination with a member having a door opening, and a door for closing said opening; of a keeper fixed to the door member adjacent one edge of the door, said keeper having an inner abutment face and a laterally projecting lug spaced from said face; a rotary shaft on said door; means for rotating said shaft in reverse directions; a keeper-em gaging member fixed to one end of said shaft, said keeper-engaging member including branch elements connected at their inner ends and extending outwardly from a point coincident with the axis of rotation of said shaft, said branches respectively and successively engaging the abutment faces and lug of said keeper, and having camming engagement therewith to force the door open.

4. In a door operating mechanism for refrigerator car doors, the combination with a member having a door opening therein; of a swinging door for closing said opening;

of a pair of keepers fixed to said member above and below the door, said keepers each having spaced abutment faces; a vertically disposed rotary operating shaft mounted on said door; and fork shaped keeper-engaging means at opposite ends of said shaft and rotatable therewith, the branches of each of said forked keepers being successively engageable with the abutment faces of the corresponding keeper to force said door open upon rotation of said shaft in one direction.

5. In a door operating mechanism, the combination with a door frame; of a pair of doors hinged to said frame; a pair of keepers fixed to the door frame above and below said doors, each of said keepers having a laterally extending lug and an abutment face inwardly of the lug; a vertically disposed rotary operating shaft mounted on one of said doors; crescent shaped keeperengaging means at opposite ends of said shaft and rigid therewith, each of said crescent shaped keeper-engaging members successively engaging said abutment face and lug of the corresponding keeper when the operating shaft is rotated in one direction, thereby forcing the door open, said crescent shaped keeper-engaging members engaging with said lug when the sha t is rotated in a reverse direction to force the door closed.

6. In a door operating mechanism, the combination with a door frame; of a pair of doors hinged to said frame; a pair of keepers fixed to the door frame above and below said doors, each of said keepers having a laterally extending lug and an abutment face inwardly of the lug; a vertically disposed r0- tary operating shaft mounted on one of said doors; arcuate flange-like, keeper-engaging members fixed to the opposite ends of said shaft, the arcua'e flange of each of said keeper-engaging members exteriorly engaging said abutment face and interiorly engaging said lug, when the shaft is rotated in one direction, to force said door open, and engaging over said lug and having camming action thereon when said shaft is rotated in a reverse direction to force said doors closed.

In witness that I claim the foregoing 1 have hereunto subscribed my name this 13th day of November, 1930.

HENRY A. MINER. 

